Deferral

Two weeks before Bill Clinton's election, his top foreign policy adviser, Anthony Lake, quietly ordered up two dozen "option papers" from Democratic experts to guide the President-elect's first steps in his sudden transformation from candidate to world leader. Lake posed three questions, according to some who received the request: What international crises, deadlines and demands for early action will face President Clinton when he takes office on Jan. 20?

It's as American as Southern fried chicken, and most of us learned the basics of it at the marble ring on our school playground: "I'll give you six peewees and my two red aggies for your yellow shooter." Agreed and done. The swap was executed, and not a thought was given to the tax consequences. And then both parties grew up and went into the real estate business.

Individuals in high-risk AIDS groups are continuing to donate blood, despite nationwide recommendations that they voluntarily refrain, government scientists and representatives from the blood bank industry said Monday. Dr. Harvey J.

April 22, 1990 | ROBERT J. BRUSS, Robert J. Bruss is a San Francisco-area lawyer, author and real estate broker

QUESTION: We sold our home about a year ago and bought a more expensive home to avoid having to pay tax on our sale profit. But a month ago, my wife had twins and we need to buy a larger home quickly. However, our tax man says if we sell our home now we will have to pay tax on our deferred profit, since we owned our home less than 24 months. If this is true, is there any way to get around this tax rule? ANSWER: Yes. But first let's back up.

In what has become a post-disaster ritual for California businesses, numerous lenders and retailers have offered assistance to the victims of this month's storms, with low-interest loans and deferrals on home mortgage and credit card payments. "Knowing that these things are lurking, we have (disaster assistance programs) pretty much ready to go," said Wells Fargo spokeswoman Kathleen Shilkret. "Unfortunately, we have had too much call for this."

Faced with a growing housing crunch, many cities are struggling to find money to support housing programs, especially for low-income residents. Port Hueneme is not one of those cities. In fact, the city's Redevelopment Agency has deferred more than $2.8 million in legally mandated obligations for housing programs for low- and moderate-income families. The money has been used instead to repay city loans and bonds issued by the agency for various commercial and residential projects.

A poverty-law firm sued the city of Oxnard Monday, challenging a recent City Council decision to withhold more than half a million dollars from a state-mandated housing fund set up to shelter the poor. The lawsuit, filed by Oxnard-based California Rural Legal Assistance, seeks immediate payment of $539,000 owed to the low-income housing fund established by Oxnard's Redevelopment Agency in 1986.

Microsoft Corp.'s fiscal first-quarter earnings rose 11%, exceeding Wall Street estimates, as the company said it benefited from stronger sales of server software and some cost savings. Microsoft also had higher-than-expected revenue from the unit that includes the Xbox video game console. For the three months ended Sept. 30, Microsoft said it earned $3.48 billion, or 35 cents a share, compared with $3.14 billion, or 29 cents, in the same period last year.

President Bush, moving to head off a confrontation with congressional supporters of Israel, offered Tuesday to compensate the Israeli government for any costs it incurs if approval of its request for $10 billion in U.S. loan guarantees is delayed for four months. At the same time, Bush raised the stakes with Israel, warning U.S.

With Congress returning next week for a contentious lame-duck session, doctors are stepping up their campaign to press lawmakers to put off major cuts in Medicare payments to physicians that are scheduled to take effect next month. If Congress does not act, physicians who treat the elderly under the federal program will see a 23% cut in their fees starting Dec. 1. Democrats and Republicans say they want to prevent the cuts, which were imposed by a 1997 budget law designed to restrain runaway Medicare spending.